The Old Mistakes
by DamonsImpala
Summary: She has been without him for so long after his death, wandering alone as the last of the Time Lords, never facing the mistake they made together before he died. But now it's time. First things first though, she needs to remember. DISCLAIMER: I own nothing, only their mistake :)
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

She hears the screaming before she sees them, the people running towards her, most of them look terrified. She keeps walking towards them, even though a small part of her says that it's dangerous; you don't just get crowds of humans running and screaming from their homes, but she doesn't care. They're closer now and she starts to notice things about them. One man is carrying a basket; a child is clinging to a toddler's hand and somewhere in the midst of all the screaming, she can hear a dog barking. Now the people are close enough that she can hear what they're saying, well shouting actually. One small girl is screaming for someone called Blue, a woman carrying a baby is crying out to a man to leave it, not to bother and to just get out of this place.

She almost feels like laughing when she watches them. The humans are scared for their lives but she knows that's stupid. There's no fear in dying, only for the people you leave behind, the people who have to live without you. Just as she's thinking this, the crowd reaches her. She stands still in the middle, waiting for them all to pass, but she should have known better. Humans never leave you alone, a lesson she should have learned a long time ago. A young man stops in front of her and asks her what she's doing, just standing there. She just shakes her head. "Keep going." She tells him and he stares at her for a second and obviously presumes she's just insane and that it's too late for her now. She's heard this all before, but it's the people who don't know, they're the ones who say it. They don't understand, they weren't there.

She lets herself remember for a moment, only for a second. She remembers how they had promised never to leave one another alive without the other. And then she remembers how _He_ broke that promise. He died, leaving her alone, the only one left of their kind. She doesn't want to think about it. She'll make herself forget, if that's what it takes.

She zones back to the present, where a woman is trying to get her attention. "Sorry, what?" "You have to get out of here, you can come with us." Again she shakes her head. "No, you go on." "It's too late," the woman tells her sadly, "It's all ruined everyone's dead or gone." She nods to herself, she had guessed as much. "It's okay, you go on." The woman looks at her and walks off but before she is out of sight she gives her last piece of advice, "Good luck." More people rush past, shoving and pushing, the noise almost unbearable. Eventually, everyone has passed and the screaming is fading. She keeps walking in that direction, remembering the last time she was on this road.

_She's holding a little boy's hand and the child is talking about how weird lizard's tongues are. _He's_ with them, that man, the one who broke the promise. Him and the boy are debating on how to pronounce the noise that snakes make while she watches how the sun shines in both of their hair. She focuses on how alike they are, more than she would ever admit and she wonders what other things the boy would inherit from him. She hopes that he won't talk in long sentences like his father, the man who broke the promise. A promise made not only to her, but to a little boy as too._

She wonders now what has happened to the boy or if he even remembers them and she hopes that the boy has forgiven them both.

Now that she has reached the village she can see why the people were running. Something obviously happened here. Some of the buildings are crumbling and the whole village is covered in a layer of sand. It's silent… too silent. She starts to sing softly to herself but the sound seems so small and lonely that she gats louder. She looks at the once familiar streets, never once regretting having left. Unlike the people who had left the village screaming, she knows what really happened here. And what is still happening, she realizes when she hears it; the low groan, following her, matching her singing- almost. Most importantly she knows that for one; it's all her fault. And two; she knows that she can stop it. And she will, even though she knows that it will be most definitely be the last thing she will ever do.

She finds the building the three of them once called home. As she walks up the steps to the front door, the noise that has been following her gets louder. The moment she touches the door though, it stops completely, leaving her singing again on her own. The door opens slightly without her help and she knows that it's there, inside the house and that it recognises her. It remembers her too. She sighs softly and pushes the door open fully to face their mistake.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Inside the house is dark but it doesn't matter because she will always know the way, the one thing she will never forget. She can see a familiar pair of red Converse runners at the bottom of the stairs and smile to herself as she thinks about him.

_The first day they met. It was a very normal day for her as she ran around, avoiding everyone and messing about on her own. But then she met him. She can barely even mention his name but she does it just this once; The Doctor. She sighs aloud as she walks slowly down the hallway. She was always a bit immature, mind you- so was he. Maybe that's why they never realized until it was too late. As previously said, she had been messing about on her own when (typically) she fell- hard. He, being The Doctor, helped her and they got to know each other after they realized that they were both very alike. They both wanted out, wanted to get away and so they did. They travelled together in his ship, the TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimension in Space), a lovely blue police box they made home for those few short centuries. It was just the two of them doing stupid stuff like jumping off the Titanic and tickling Hitler when he was just a baby. Then they had their own, a boy they called Benny._

There's a loud noise from upstairs and she shivers slightly but ignores the sound. Now that she has decided to remember, she will.

_The boy grew up great, wonderful and full of craziness. Then the time of the Time War came, with all its hate and violence. Benny was captured, which was definitely her fault, no matter how much The Doctor denied it. But he wasn't killed, no; only changed. She still doesn't know for sure what they did to her son, even now but one thing The Doctor and she knew; he was no longer their son. For the past 300 years had been searching for Benny, or at least what was left of him so that maybe after all these years she could put something right. Or maybe it was so that Benny would have at least one parent. Again she blocks out those painful memories of The Doctor's death. Not yet, she tells herself, patience._

Only recently she heard word of where Benny might be. It was smart, really. They put him in the one place she was sure never to return to, but here she is. She wonders what he is, what has happened to him and she knows that it doesn't matter as long as he remembers.

There's a loud groan from upstairs and a thud. She realizes that she can't avoid Benny any longer and she walks over to the stairs. She wants her last moments to be a memory of The Doctor's death. Her foot touches the first step and she remembers.

_The fire, it was everywhere, consuming everything in its path. _

Second step.

_They ran together down the main street, they had fought together but now it was just them. There was nothing they could do._

Third step.

_She could hear them catching up behind them. "Exterminate." They repeated. It only made her speed up._

Fourth step.

_A huge bang erupted from above them and she looked up to see a huge missile falling down on them. The Doctor pushed her out of the way and they both fall on the impact. The bomb goes flying into the ground, raising dust. But when it all falls they get up and look at each other. "We have to get out of here." She says as if he didn't already know that. _

Fifth step. Here it comes, she tells herself.

_"Exterminate." The stupid Dalek said. They were too slow. They always were._

Sixth step.

_Everything moved in slow motion_

Seventh step.

_Still, their survival instinct kicked in, telling them to run. And they did._

Eighth step.

_She knew it was no use; one or both of them would die soon unless someone shot that Dalek. _

Ninth step. Oh God- this is it. She shuts her eyes tight and remembers.

_The ground split underneath them and she fell over, a huge crack in the Earth's crust, too deep to see the bottom- A huge crack in the Earth's crust; and she almost fell into it. She whips around to warn The Doctor before he does the same._

Tenth step. This is it. The end…

_She turns around suddenly, her hair flicking him in the fac. "Go!" He roars, his eyes wide as he keeps running. She stretches out her hand towards him in shock, unable to speak as she sees the disaster about to happen, before it's even happened._

_He runs forward, looking back at her questioningly and finally she finds her voice. "No!" But it's too late. He never saw it. He falls; down into the deep crack… The last she hears from him, his scream; that one word, haunting her forever; her name. She can still hear him, even now. _

"Clara!" She shudders as she remembers The Doctor's last moments. "Clara, get down!" _What? _ That wasn't part of the memory. Yet, it is his voice… she turns around and there he is, running across the landing towards her. "Go!" he shouts, pushing her roughly. She doesn't move so he jumps on her, sending them both flying down the stairs. The house shakes as the creature upstairs moans deafeningly, but Clara doesn't care. All she can do is stare at him; The Doctor. He's been alive this whole time.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Clara sits on the ground staring at him in astonishment. Then she realizes that he's saying something. "…alive!" She looks at him blankly and he just stares at her in confusion until he realizes that she's totally out of it. He drags her up by the arms but she pulls away, "Don't touch me." But he ignores her and bends his head down to her level. "Listen to me, Clara. We don't have time for you to freak out. We have to get out of here." Clara just stares at him and he sighs. "Look, I'd love to do the big reunion, really I would, but that _thing_ up there that used to be our son- it just tried to eat me. So I don't know about you, but I'm going to run!" there's a loud shriek above them and Clara looks up to see a huge muscly monster, bearing absolutely no resemblance to their son. It's at the top of the stairs when it sees them kneeling at the bottom of the stairs and lets out a huge roar. "Go!" shouts The Doctor and Clara stumbles to her feet. Holding hands once again they run down the hallway with the creature at their heels. They go out the door and slam it shut behind them. They look at each other and smile, just like the old days. But Clara has spent too much time trying to block all that and changes the subject quickly, out of habit. "That's not going to hold him." She gasps, with her hands on her knees. From her back pocket she pulls out a gun, despite the noise of distaste from The Doctor. "What's that?" he asks and she almost laughs. "What does it look like, dork?" Clara smiles lovingly at him. "You'll kill him!" He cries, his voice going all squeaky, the way she remembers it. "It's not _him_, Doctor!" she realises how loud her voice is and stops for a second. "You know I wish it was, but it's not, and it's trying to kill us, which I'm not gonna let happen, you hear?" The door opens loudly and they both turn around to face their mistake, Clara with her gun extended out in front of her and The Doctor simply staring at what they'd lost. The monster stands in the doorway, its eyes glowing green. "You left me." It's loud, rumbling voice echoes in the empty village. "We're sorry." Says Clara and then she shoots, straight for the heart. "No!" screams The Doctor, but it's too late, the creature falls to the ground. No one makes a sound as the body begins to form a pool of blood around itself. Then it hits her. He's alive, The Doctor's alive and he has been all this time!

Clara turns around to face him but he's not looking at her, he's staring blankly ahead of him. "Hey, you." She stands in front of him and notes fondly that he's still about a foot and a half taller than her. "You've been alive- _this whole time_?" she shrieks. "Of course I'm alive," he says, "I'm brilliant. But I had no idea… I thought I was the last of the Time Lords." "No," She says. "Just no. _I_ was the last of the Time Lords- all alone! I was looking for Benny so I could fix our mistake." The Doctor squints at her, another thing she recognises in him. "What?" he asks. "Benny being captured and changed into whatever he is now; that was our mistake. For the last three hundred years I have been searching for him, following a trail of abandoned cities where he had roamed freely. And now I've found him, but not just him, I found you too!" Clara laughs happily and puts her hands on his chest and looks up at his serious eyes and sweet smile. "And while I'm just a little annoyed… God, I'm so glad to see you!" "Come here, you." The Doctor smiles and takes her into his arms, just the way he used to.


End file.
